On Thursday, March 18, 2021, PC faculty and students convened with the City of Peoria’s Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss one of the spring 2021 student projects. Project Cities students Leslie Carnie, Raymundo Cabrera, and Patricia Cooley were joined by PC Program Manager Steven Russell, and longtime Project Cities faculty member Meagan Ehlenz, to share with City of Peoria commission members about the Spring 2021 student project, Affordable Housing Study: ADU Strategies, marking the first-time students have been able to speak in person with City staff since the start of COVID-19.

“Engaging in the process and interacting with the Commissioners and City Staff members was very impactful for me as well as the project.  The city-specific data they provided regarding ADU perceptions, preferred uses, and potential pitfalls will be crucial to the successful completion of our report.”

Patricia Cooley, Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning Student

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On February 24, 2021, ASU Project Cities hosted a somewhat-rescheduled spring semester kickoff event with City of Peoria leadership and Project Cities students. Students had the opportunity to gain insights from a panel of Peoria city leadership, who all turned out to be ASU grads, representing a combined 68 years of local government experience. Peoria City Manager Jeff Tyne and Deputy City Manager Katie Gregory answered questions about public sector professional development and provided valuable insights on the current and future state of housing in Peoria, as well as the importance of community engagement for student projects.

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This Workgroup was created in the summer of 2020 to share heat forecasts and warnings with communities; highlight approaches to heat relief, communications strategies and resources; identify opportunities and gaps in heat-related research; and connect cities and counties to regional and state resources and information. Read more on the Workgroup's webpage.

Partners:

Healthy Urban Environments (HUE)

Knowledge Exchange for Resilience (KER)

Sustainable Cities Network (SCN)

Personnel:

• Melissa Guardaro, Assistant Research Professor, ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Institute of Sustainability; Healthy Urban Environments (HUE) & Knowledge Exchange for Resilience (KER)
• Liza Kurtz, ASU PhD Student, Global Health
• Anne Reichman, Director, ASU SCN & Project Cities
• David Hondula, Associate Professor, ASU School of Sciences and Urban Planning
• Paul Iniguez, Science & Operations Officer, NOAA/National Weather Service Phoenix, AZ
• Braden Kay, Sustainability Director, City of Tempe

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 8/5/2020 (PDF)

At the recent (June 26, 2020) meeting, the Flagstaff City Council declared a Climate Emergency, prompting the city to update its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan to achieve community-wide carbon neutrality by the year 2030.

Communities across the country and world are recognizing the impacts of climate change on cities’ resources, economy, infrastructure, and quality of life. In Flagstaff, it affects snowpack, water availability, wildlife, and increases the chance of wildfires in the area. Flagstaff’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for climate risks, and safeguard the well-being of its residents for the future. To learn more about Flagstaff’s Sustainability initiatives, visit their website.

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View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/29/2020 (PDF)

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/23/2020 (PDF)

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/9/2020 (PDF)

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/1/2020 (PDF)

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 6/24/2020 (PDF)

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 5/28/2020 (PDF)

On April 29, 2020, ASU Project Cities hosted our first-ever entirely virtual Student Showcase for the Spring 2020 semester. Over one hundred attendees appeared on Zoom throughout the day to learn from this semester’s students and discuss their research findings. The event featured multiple virtual “rooms,” including the main stage presentations and their project findings and breakout Q&A sessions. A virtual “lobby” also remained open throughout the day for tech support, a reception, and networking.

The online showcase featured a mix of 74 graduate and undergraduate ASU students with diverse backgrounds and educational interests. This semester, students partnered with two communities: the City of Peoria, and the Town of Clarkdale on six projects. A video recording of the event is available online here.

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The City of Glendale manages approximately 135 Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs). ASTs are necessary components for storing valuable chemical agents for a variety of uses, from water treatment to backup power generation. ASTs must be appropriately maintained to ensure citizen and employee safety, and while there are existing standards and regulations, Glendale experts describe a lack of cohesive standards in the industry. Students in Albert Brown’s ERM 401/501 and EGR 427: Hazardous Waste Management spent their Spring 2019 semester researching AST regulations and standards with the goals of identifying AST best management practices and developing an efficient and effective operations and maintenance program for Glendale to consider applying to their ASTs.

This summary report is unique, as it represents the combined effort of a hybrid, multi-campus course format that brought together ASU students from the Tempe campus, Polytechnic campus, as well as online students simultaneously in a quasi-virtual learning environment. To conduct their research, students attended workshops, conducted site visits, performed literature reviews, and held stakeholder interviews with Glendale representatives. Analysis of the gathered information led to a robust list of both specific and generalizable recommendations, aimed at ensuring maximum safety levels for Glendale’s ASTs and the city staff maintaining them.

All the students’ hard work is now available online. Read the full summary report here.

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About the project

The City of Apache Junction (the City) has over one hundred mobile home and recreational vehicle parks and subdivisions within its city limits. Many of these parks were built in the 1950s, before the city was officially incorporated, and thus pre-date city code. As a result, many of the parks are now relatively outdated, and in some cases, have significant code violations that pose a safety and health risk to residents. Although the parks are an affordable option for low-income residents, they can be perceived as detrimental to the city’s image, as conditions and amenities can vary significantly from one place to another. Arizona State University’s master capstone student, Maggie Dellow, saw the need to establish a clear path forward for the out-of-code parks, without reducing affordable housing stock in the city. Her recommendations included solutions to define minimum standards and processes that would both allow for economic redevelopment and prevent low-income residents from losing access to housing. The work was recognized by the Arizona Planning Association for Arizona's Best Student Project Award, 2019. The work also received fourth place in the nation for Best Student Project, 2019 at the American Planning Association.

Read the full summary report here.

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On February 5th, 2020 ASU students, faculty, and city staff met at Peoria City Hall for the spring 2020 kickoff event with Project Cities. In the Council Chambers, Erick Strunk, Deputy City Manager, opened the occasion with a warm welcome and stressed the great value the students’ work promises to bring the city. Jay Davies, Chief of Staff at the City Manager’s office, took over from there, with his memorable Peoria Trivia game, full of unique and unexpected factoids about the area, and questions to test the students on their knowledge of the city’s population, demographics, urban development plans and more. Right as the students were getting ready for group photos, City Manager, Jeff Tyne made a surprise appearance to introduce himself briefly, and thank the students personally for their hard work.

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Early Friday morning on January 31, 2020, 17 sleepy masters students in PUP 580: Planning Workshop, disembarked from a large gray charter bus to Clarkdale, Arizona. After two hours on the road, the ASU students, with their professors Meagan Ehlenz and Kim Kanuho, headed into the Old Memorial Clubhouse to meet with town leadership for the spring semester Project Cities kick-off. Project Cities’ kickoff events offer an initial opportunity for students and faculty to interact with town staff, set the tone for the semester, and get everyone started off on the right foot. Sipping coffee in the cool, crisp air, the students were eager to gain additional information and perspective for their developing projects. This spring, these students will work with Clarkdale to develop downtown revitalization plans focused on their historic business district and the 89A commercial corridor.

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The city of Apache Junction, Arizona has a complicated relationship with the 125 mobile home and RV parks within its city limits. Some of the parks are well managed and provide an attractive, affordable option for low income residents. But many are deteriorating, unsightly and do not conform to contemporary city codes, presenting a detriment to Apache Junction’s image as it works to attract visitors and boost economic growth.

In an effort to address this, the city partnered with the new-at-the-time Arizona State University program Project Cities, a program launched in 2017 to “connect higher education with local communities, creating a powerful combination of knowledge and know-how.” Apache Junction was the inaugural community partner during the 2017–18 academic year and renewed its partnership through the spring 2019 semester.

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Visionary Springtime Projects

Project Cities is proud to kick off a total of five projects with the City of Peoria and the Town of Clarkdale for the spring 2020 semester. Through the Project Cities program, Arizona State University students collaborate with neighboring cities to investigate sustainability challenges in the area and tackle challenging research questions in order to recommend solutions that the city can implement. This applied, project-based learning approach reinforces classroom lessons while also empowering students to give back to the community. This semester’s projects include a water resource management plan, a transit circulator improvement plan, a feasibility assessment of recreation corridor improvement proposals, a sustainability review and a downtown revitalization strategy.

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Our Fall 2019 semester boasted a robust mix of 7 projects with nine classes of Arizona State University students. The Project Cities (PC) program connects students and faculty from the university with Arizona municipalities to collaborate on developing potential solutions to local sustainability challenges the communities face. This semester, students partnered with three communities: the City of Glendale, City of Peoria, and Town of Clarkdale on seven projects with the help of 150 students across 10 classes.

This semester’s showcase featured the following projects:

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The Project Cities-Glendale partnership is now entering its the second year, collaborating with Arizona State University students and faculty on contemporary sustainability challenges in the community. Over the last year, we have completed five projects, working with eight ASU classes, eight faculty and 108 students. The past projects covered an array of topics, including sustainable facilities, above-ground storage tank safety and compliance, fleet electrification, community engagement and social media policy.

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